


The Originals Meta: Klaus fits the criteria for a BPD diagnosis

by luvtheheaven



Series: Metas I've Written (Various Fandoms) [4]
Category: The Originals (TV), The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Borderline Personality Disorder, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/M, Gen, Meta, Psychologists & Psychiatrists, Verbal Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-29
Updated: 2014-07-29
Packaged: 2018-02-10 20:46:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2039529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luvtheheaven/pseuds/luvtheheaven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is not a fic. Just a meta. ;) You can likely get something out of reading this even if you don't know the show. </p><p>Cami tells Klaus in episode 1x04, "I don’t believe in evil as a diagnosis. I think you have unstable personal relationships, stress-related paranoia, chronic anger issues, fear of abandonment. I think you could benefit from talking to someone professionally.” Then I realize these symptoms scream Borderline Personality Disorder to me. This is just a simple little meta analysis of this possibility of a legitimate psychological diagnosis to explain Klaus's behavior.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Originals Meta: Klaus fits the criteria for a BPD diagnosis

**Author's Note:**

> I took only one Psychology class in college, and all of my knowledge of this personality disorder comes from Google searches and a personal investment in understanding my abusive mother who has been sort of diagnosed as having BPD. She may also have a Personality Disorder Not Otherwise Specified: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personality_disorder_not_otherwise_specified though, with Borderline traits but also other traits (one psychiatric evaluation deemed my mother to have this type of personality disorder with "Borderline", "Dependent", "Histrionic", and "Obsessive-Compulsive" traits, and mentioned that she also has dysthymia, generalized anxiety disorder, and alcohol abuse). STILL... from everything I've read about Borderline Personality Disorder, I believe my mother VERY likely has it, and I have been specifically invested in understanding this personality disorder for a while now.
> 
> This site, right here: http://www.outofthefog.net/Disorders/BPD.html is amazingly helpful for people like me who have "loved ones" (or people you don't feel love for but who are your family members) with various personality disorders. 
> 
> The Out of the FOG site & forum works for people who care deeply about these people with the personality disorders, be them your child, your parent, your spouse, your ex, etc... and for people who basically feel bitter resentment toward them. You just have to go to the correct section of the forum to find like-minded folk and I've read quite a few different types of experiences while lurking over there, so I have a picture of what various people experience when it comes to living with someone in their family who has BPD. And if you read that page, you can see the other terms used around the world for the same disorder.

In episode 1x04 “Girl in New Orleans” of _The Originals_ , psychology grad student Camille “Cami” O’Connor diagnosed original vampire Klaus Mikaleson with some specific symptoms.

_"I don’t believe in evil as a diagnosis. I think you have_ _unstable personal relationships,_ _stress-related paranoia,_ _chronic anger issues, fear of abandonment._ _I think you could benefit from talking to someone professionally.”_

I love Cami, and I love her science-based approach to the supernatural. It is a fun theme that _The Originals’_ sister show, _The Vampire Diaries_ , also chose to explore during its concurrent season.

Season 5 of _The Vampire Diaries_ had Dr. Wes Maxfield and the Augustine secret society of doctors and scientists based at Whitmore College studying vampirism from a scientific perspective, with zero regard for the fact that vampires actually have thoughts and feelings and that torturing them or wishing to make them extinct might possibly be unethical.

 _The Originals_ chose to use Cami to show the opposite side of the coin. Her entire use of science when it comes to vampires is completely in acknowledgement of the fact that the vampire Klaus does have thoughts and feelings that parallel a typical human being’s.

Because I have some personal experience with someone in my life having Borderline Personality Disorder, I realized, when she listed off Klaus’s symptoms, that most of them fit BPD to a T.

[The Wikipedia article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borderline_personality_disorder) says BPD is characterized by _" **a pattern of marked impulsivity and**_ ** _instability of_** _**affects,** _**_interpersonal relationships_** _, **and**_ ** _self image_** _ **.** The pattern is present by early adulthood and occurs across a variety of situations and contexts. Other symptoms may include _**_intense fears of abandonment and intense anger and irritability_** _, the reason for which others have difficulty understanding. **People with BPD often engage in idealization and devaluation of others, alternating between high positive regard and great disappointment.** ” **(Emphasis mine.)**_

This fits Klaus surprisingly well. The more I thought about Klaus actually suffering from BPD, the more I realized it just does make sense.

According to a large number of studies, child abuse and/or neglect is the single most common risk factor seen in individuals who develop Borderline Personality Disorder. Klaus was severely abused and neglected as a child by Mikael, his father, who treated him horrifically once he realized that Klaus was not biologically his.

On _The Vampire Diaries_ , Klaus treats Caroline Forbes like a goddess who can do no wrong. She is everything good about the world. She is full of light. She is young and innocent and completely beautiful. This is putting her on a pedestal in the sense of having too much of a high positive regard for her, and is actually quite common for people with BPD to do. They see things in black and white, including the people in their lives. This means Klaus is setting himself up to be gravely disappointed by Caroline, eventually.

Klaus has already felt this way in his relationships with his sister, Rebekah, and his close friend he considered “like a son” to him, Marcel. He felt extremely betrayed by them in such a way that can best be explained by this kind of black-and-white thinking. They were the people he loved most in the world… and suddenly he considered them the people he _hated_ most passionately.

On the page I linked to in the author's note: http://www.outofthefog.net/Disorders/BPD.html You can see a handy list of symptoms. Just look at that and consider how many actually do fit Klaus.

As someone who grew up with an abusive mother who has untreated and unacknowledged BPD, I worry for baby Hope and I wish her mother Hayley and her Aunt Rebekah would be careful and protect Hope as she grows up from the likely abusive treatment Klaus would rain on her. She is just an infant now, and as such Klaus loves her and would never hurt her. But as soon as she starts becoming more independent... around age 7, or maybe not till age 12... sometime in there... that's when Klaus will start feeling negative emotions toward Hope too, if he doesn't first have someone like Cami help him manage his BPD. He doesn't need to be kept 100% out of his daughter's life - I'm not advocating kidnapping and running away with the child. I'm advocating understanding that this is a serious matter and it's not just as simple as Rebekah thinking "Sure, he was abusive to me, but I know he'd never hurt a small child, especially his own child" - the problem is, he will. Over time, if he doesn't get help for his mental health problems, he will hurt Hope.

Just some food for thought. What do you think? Does Klaus actually have BPD?

I know Klaus is a mass-murderer many times over. I don't intend to be offensive or unrealistic about what the typical person with BPD endures/suffers/lives with. I am well aware that even abusive and untreated people with BPD like my own mother are typically NOT violent criminals, let alone murderers. My mother's abuse was mainly verbal and emotional/psychological. Klaus' abuse is somewhat like that too, he just happens to be a Hybrid (werewolf/vampire creature) who can emotionally torture Rebekah, Davina, or whoever he feels like via killing the person's loved ones with no risk of prison or the person successfully fighting back. :P

**Author's Note:**

> If you have been diagnosed with BPD but are determined not to be abusive, then I commend you and firmly believe you can live a happy, full life full of love and a lack-of-abuse. Good luck on your endeavors. I understand this kind of a diagnosis is tough to live with. But if you're trying, that's much more than I can say for my own abusive mother. Please don't be offended. I'm hoping that Klaus, if he has BPD, could also change, if he was actually made aware of what was causing him to feel and act in the extreme ways he does.
> 
> On an unrelated note, I've written one fic before that features Klaus from a very NON-ABUSIVE point of view: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1667120 If you love Klaus, you'd probably enjoy my fic. :P


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